Kazan's film of [A Streetcar Named Desire] gives one of the first opportunities to see what can be done with [harsh, class-conscious realism] in the cinema….

Behind [the protagonists's] personal drama there develops the conflict of values which Tennessee Williams has explored elsewhere: the clash between the young and the old; the sordidly real and the magically bogus; between the precarious dignity of Stanley's primitive sensual nature and Blanche's equally vulnerable refinement. (p. 170)

The style does not transplant readily to the screen. Tennessee Williams' script … changes little of the original. All the usual objections to stage adaptations apply; there is too much talk, too little broad action, and the contrived unnecessary excursions into exterior sets merely break up the narrative's rhythm—the brief scene with Stanley at the factory seems particularly arbitrary. Over and above this, there is a discrepancy between the director's handling and the quality of...